Components of a thriller trailer

From the trailer of Black Swan I have seen that fast moving images are the main component to a thriller trailer, in this trailer the images start of slow with a lot of dialogue. The trailer then pciks up pace gradually with decreasing amounts of dialogue, untill eventually there is no dialogue and just flashing images. Suspense music is used throughout this trailer which also starts of slow and builds tension up untill the end of the trailler. Close ups are used regulary to capture the characters changing emotions, this combined with a handheld camera effect shows the audience her state of mind aswell as making them feel as it is more realistic. At the end of the trailer one slow moving image is shown this is done to make the audience want to see what going to happen to that character and want to go and see the film. During the end of the trailer the title of the film aswell as the directors and actors names are shown, this part did not last very long so it does not bore the audience.

The limitless trailer uses a similar technique to the black swan trailer as it uses slowly increasing pace of images, nut it uses more dilalogue within the trailer. The trailer shows how the characters life develops in the film within a short space of time, this makes the audience want to find out what happens without revealing too much. The title, directors and actors names are shown at the end of the trailer just like the black swan trailer.

Thriller Codes and Conventions

Thriller films gernerally use low lighting and shadows, this creates suspense and drama. Quick cuts and changes in camera angles aswell as tension music are used generally in most thriller films, these techniques are used to get the audience on the edge of their seats and create suspense.

Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements.

Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods such as; a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, terror.

Poster Breakdown

Website Breakdown

Poster Plan

I am going to use one main picture, this is used by many other film posters. I have also placed the text and the tittle under the picture, this is also used by other film posters.

Research Into Traget Audience

The target audience for a generic thriller film would be 18-30 but the sub-genre for the actual film would affect the target audience. My film trailer is a crime thriller the typical target audience for this type of film would be 25-45.

Trailer research

I have researched into different film trailers to get an idea of the general codes and conventions that are involved in a thriller film trailer. From what I have watched I noticed that most of the trailers have a dark feeling about them, this is because of the music they use and the background of the trailer.

Limitless is a thriller film directed by Neil Burger, the trailer uses a fast paced timeline which shows some of the storyline of the film as it shows how the charcter lives. It also gives flashes of  action with fighting scenes.



The Lincoln Lawyer is an American thriller film, it starts of slow so the audience gets an idea of the storyline. The pace of the images increases during the action to make it more dramatic and to keep the audience interested.

Source Code is a American science fiction-techno-thriller, again this trailer starts of slow and bulids up speed in the images, this gives it a more dramatic feel to this audience.

Website planning



This is my plan for my website, I plan to use one main picture and have links at the bottom and the top of the page. This goes along with the codes an conventions of thriller film websites.

Thriller film posters

This is my research for posters of thriller films, this shows what are the codes and conventions for a thriller poster.

This poster of the Harry Brown film uses three pictures and has very little text apart from reviews and the title. This is quite a simple poster but it gets the audiences attention.

This poster for Shutter Island is also quite simple it uses a combination of two pictures and has little text. This poster would also catch the audiences attention although it is simple it shows enough through the pictures to capture a persons attention without it being boring.  

This poster for the Black Swan film is again simple, it uses one picture of the main character and has a bit of text informing the audience of the films title, actors in the film and when its being released. The picture is striking which reflects the type of film as it is a pyshcological thriller.

This poster of the film Frozen uses a dark picture of the setting of the film, there are also two characters in the picture showing a situation in the film. The uses of a dark picture shows the nature of the film. The poster has a small amount of text which includes qoutes from reviews and the title of the film.

Website research

The Shooter film website is very simple and consists of only a picture of the main character and of the dvd covers. The website has 7 links which goes to pages such as downloads, gallery, videos, soundtrack and the film.
http://www.shootermovie.com/main.html

The Happy Gilmore website is a bit more complicated it has 10 links, it has three pictures one of the main character, another of the dvd cover and the last one of the production company. It has links to the trailer, downloads and a photo gallery.
http://www.happygilmoredvd.com/main.html

The Transformers website has 9 links which include about the film, downloads, media and gallery. It uses screenshots of  different parts of  one of the main characters, it also uses special effects on the titles.
http://awards.paramountpictures.com/transformers/main.html?side=a

The Saw 6 website uses quite a lot of special effects, it has 9 links which includes gallery, cast and crew and downloads. It uses dark pictures and backgrounds this tells the audience of what type of film it is.
http://www.saw6film.com/main.html

Research

This is my research into film posters for my task, this shows the codes and conventions for a gerneral film posters.

From this poster you can tell that the film is a horror as it uses a dark backgroud, also the special effects used shows the audience that it is a horror. It again like other posters uses a picture of one character and is a simple poster with little text on it.

This poster foe Iron Man 2 just has a picture of the main character, this makes it striking and powerful, you can also tell this by the characters facial expression. It is quite a simple picture and does not have much text, this stops it becoming boring.

This poster for The Dark Knight uses the same idea as the Iron Man 3 poster it just shows one of the main characters, the backgroud is darker this tells you it is a dark scary film. It also uses the main symbol of the film, the bat this is iconic for this type of film and the audience recognise for this that it is a Batman film.

This poster uses more characters on it and has lighter background colours this tells the audience it is a light hearted comedy film. It is still a simple poster like the other posters as it does not have much text and uses the main characters so it can be recognised.